Lucerne Valley
Community Action Guide
In 2016, the community embarked on a planning process to develop a new community plan. Three public workshops were held during the year (February 24, March 30 and July 20, 2016). These workshops, open to any Lucerne Valley resident, business, or property owner, addressed the strengths and weaknesses of the community, the community’s values, and what Lucerne Valley aspires to be in the future. Workshop participants brainstormed ideas and areas of focus and actions to help the community move forward to actively achieve its vision.
This Community Action Guide is a framework of actions identified by the community and supports implementation of the actions by the community. The goals and policies from the previous Community Plan were used to inform the guide and the Policy Plan portion of the Countywide Plan.
-
Our Community
Learn about who we are, our values, and more.
Go to Our Community -
Our Aspirations
Learn about our aspirations for the future of the community.
Go to Our Aspirations -
Action Plans
See the actions we'd like to take to realize our aspirations.
Go to Action Guide
Lucerne Valley is a high desert community that strongly values the natural beauty of the surrounding desert/mountain landscape. Fiercely independent and protective of its rural character, the community strives to promote responsible and sustainable growth while safeguarding both the desert lifestyle and the environment. Aware of the challenges that life in the Mojave Desert can often bring, the people of Lucerne Valley are nonetheless committed to ensuring that the community is provided with excellent infrastructure, essential services, and outstanding recreational opportunities.
-
Community workshops were conducted in each community as part of the engagement process. In addition, input was gathered through the Countywide Plan website. As part of the process, participants defined the strengths of and opportunities for their community. The word cloud was created using the input provided during the Strengths, Opportunities, Values and Aspirations exercises and served as part of the base information utilized to develop the Focus and Action Statements of the Community Action Guide. The word cloud quickly informed participants of key issues and focus areas that could be addressed in the guide. The more a word or phrase was articulated, the larger the word appears in the cloud. The full results of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats gathered as a part of the engagement process is found in the Community Profile.
-
The Values are those shared assets, principles, standards, mores, and in the judgement of the community, what is important in the lives of its residents and businesses. A community’s values are an important consideration in shaping its aspirations, focus and actions.
As a community we value:
- Natural Beauty. Lucerne Valley residents value the natural beauty that defines the desert lifestyle.
- Local Businesses. Lucerne Valley residents value the history and perseverance of local businesses in the community.
- Historic Character. Lucerne Valley residents value the history, character, and beauty of the area.
- Rural Desert Lifestyle. Lucerne Valley residents value the unique character of the desert environment, dark skies, and a peaceful and quiet atmosphere.
- Growth Opportunities. Lucerne Valley residents value responsible growth that respects and complements the culture of the community.
-
The community profile is a summary of the social, cultural, economic, and historic dimensions of Lucerne Valley. It presents data collected through secondary sources to inform future actions. The profile, together with future studies and information gathered from residents, highlights essential facets and “tells the story” of the Lucerne Valley Community.
The Aspirations Statement is a written narrative illustrating how the community desired look and function once the Community Focus Statements and Action Statements are accomplished. This is a long term view of 10 to 20 years. The Aspirations Statement serves as a foundation for developing Community Focus Statements and Action Statements.
-
Finding ways to expand the local economy of Lucerne Valley has been one of residents’ top priorities. Our community is fortunate to have a local market that supplies many of the everyday essentials. However, it has always been extremely important to increase the number of local businesses that provide goods and services to the community. Local community leaders develop guidelines to submit to the County of San Bernardino that serve as recommendations on the types of uses allowed and the pace at which the community should grow. The guidelines help to ensure that residents have access to local jobs and that the economy continues to develop and diversify.
-
Our community is unique in many ways, one of which is that most residents have large lots that afford us privacy and give us the ability to interact with the untouched natural environment. Despite some of the drawbacks of rural living, residents of Lucerne Valley choose to live here because of the natural beauty, dark skies, and quiet atmosphere, so it is important that these elements remain unchanged as the community continues to evolve.
-
Water availability, unmaintained infrastructure, and environmental health concerns are all issues the community continues to tackle. A committee of community members provides input to the County of San Bernardino on solutions to water accessibility, with hauled water and other solutions remaining options. The community also has a formal way to notify the County of infrastructure issues such as damaged roads or electrical problems, improving repair times and helping to make the community function more efficiently.
-
As external factors that impact the community continue to change over the years, residents of Lucerne Valley look for social, economic, and environmental stability. Community members were proactive in starting committees or organizations to hold local events that continue to grow each year, bringing the community closer together. Controlled development and growth in the area through coordinated business attraction efforts improve the local economy. The creation of a community “Welcome Packet” has helped to teach new residents and visitors about the area and encourages them to treat the local environment with respect.
The Action Plans consists of:
Focus Statements, which provide general direction towards realizing the Community’s aspirations and help organize the plan. (Identified in Workshop #2 and reviewed and finalized in Workshop #3)
Action Statements, which are measurable statements providing critical information on the program, initiative or project to complete. (Identified in Workshop #2 and reviewed and finalized in Workshop #3)
Action Plan Matrices, which provide general sets of action steps necessary to implement each action statement, identify those that would initiate and champion the action statement, provide a general timeline for implementation and identify resources for additional assistance. (Created to support and guide the Community’s identified Focus and Action Statements)
FOCUS STATEMENTS
Expand each Focus Statement to see related Action Statements and download the Action Plan Matrices.
-
Action Statements -
Aspire to be a model renewable energy community with a principal focus on point-of-use, rooftop solar.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Encourage the County to adopt rural desert development standards more befitting the high desert community and in keeping with Lucerne Valley’s rural character and sense of openness.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Partner with organizations and land trusts to protect and conserve Lucerne Valley’s unique natural desert habitats and wildlife corridors, protect public access to locally-, state-, or federally designated open space or resource conservation areas, and to maintain the balance between the human and natural communities to maintain a functioning desert/mountain transitional ecosystem.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Establish a landscaping and lighting guide to help current and new residents and businesses either install or modify landscaping and lighting to meet the needs of the desert and dark sky regulations.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Establish a welcome program to greet new residents, educate them on the unique desert experience, and offer them information regarding the community.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
Establish community-based design guidelines that encourage a common rural design theme for commercial building façades to assist designers in meeting community expectations and to create a cohesive architectural style within the business district.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
IN PROCESS: Promote Lucerne Valley as an ideal location for the development of a senior living facility, in particular, close to the Lucerne Valley Senior Center.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
IN PROCESS: Advocate for limiting industrial development to only those areas adjacent to the existing railroad tracks in southeastern Lucerne Valley.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Partner with a housing advocacy group or nonprofit to identify and rehabilitate existing housing stock, recognizing a number of existing homes are in need of repair or have been abandoned.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Investigate methods of financing a revolving fund to assist with the rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes, which would improve the community’s aesthetics while creating local jobs for contractors and handy-men.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED: Coordinate with the County Public Works Department and Caltrans to prioritize local roads in need of improvement, to ensure regular maintenance of the road system, and to increase the safety of the community’s roads
-
Partner with the Lucerne Valley & Johnson Valley Municipal Advisory Council on a project to install new and more readable street name signs throughout the communities.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
IN PROCESS: Continue efforts to designate California State Highway 247/Old Woman Springs Road declared a Scenic Highway.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED: Coordinate with the County, Caltrans, the school district, and other stakeholders to develop a Safe Routes to School Program for Lucerne Valley children.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Explore desert road development standards that downplay the need for urban street improvements such as street lighting, curb and gutter, and sidewalks except as needed for safety.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
Encourage community members to lobby the California State Legislature to change state law to allow hauled water for certain types and locations of homes.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
IN PROCESS: Support the Mojave Basin Area Adjudication as it relates to water production rights.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Coordinate with County Flood Control to improve flood mitigation measures throughout the community and advocate for a stormwater retention basin to effectively capture stormwater runoff or recharge basins.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Coordinate with the State Department of Water Resources (DWR) to have the agency update its analysis of the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Coordinate with the County to centralize a refuse transfer station, sewage treatment plant, bio-solid energy plant, and electrical substation at Tamarisk Flats.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
Coordinate with Cal Fire to change the boundaries of the State Responsibility Area (SRA) by shifting the boundary line of the SRA south to include only federals lands along the San Bernardino Mountains.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
NEEDS FUNDING: Conduct a community inventory of properties that may be in need of code enforcement action and meet regularly with County Code Enforcement to point out issues and to determine if there are community-based solutions, in particular, with regard to enforcement of property maintenance standards and illegal dumping.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
COMPLETED: Advocate for improved health care services for the community with a near-term focus on attracting a mobile medical clinic staffed with a nurse practitioner for regularly scheduled visits to Lucerne Valley.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
COMPLETED: Coordinate with the County Public Works Department and the Lucerne Valley Transfer Station to reduce solid waste disposal fees and to expand the types of materials acceptable for disposal.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Treat our local homeless and disadvantaged population with respect and assist them with finding adequate housing.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
IN PROCESS: Partner with local organizations such as the Lucerne Valley Museum Association to establish and operate a Lucerne Valley Museum.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
IN PROCESS: Provide better senior programs and activities on a level comparable to those provided to in other neighboring communities.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Enhance appreciation for the desert in school age children by partnering with local organizations and land trusts to develop a desert education program that studies the natural environment, geology, history, etc. and incorporates field trips.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Partner with the Lucerne Valley Unified School District, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, and other educators to ensure that the community’s schools meet average to high performance levels and graduation rates.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
-
Action Statements -
Promote programs that assist home and business owners with financing energy-efficiency upgrades.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Coordinate with the County Service Area 29 to convert the community’s street lights to low color temperature LED street lighting.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix -
Programs to educate the community on the importance of a sustainable lifestyle and ways to minimize the footprint left on the environment.
>>Download PDF Action Matrix
-
Download the Community Action Guide
Download the Community Action Guide in PDF format.